Gracious Professionalism - Elgin Engineering /Robotic Club

2014 Weatherford Qualifier
Posted on 01/13/2014
2014 Weatherford QualifierLast year our team did very well: we won our qualifier at Sapulpa Oklahoma and almost won the State Championship, while winning the Rockwell Collins Award at both.  This year our goal is to win the Inspire Award, which our school has never accomplished and win the State Championship.    The Inspire Award goes to the team which is the best in all categories of the competition.

The Elgin Schools Engineering Club/Robotics Team competed in the first qualifying meet of the year for First Robotics Association’s “First Tech Challenge” in Weatherford, Oklahoma, at South Western Oklahoma State University on Saturday, January 11, 2014.  Our team Elgin Robo-Owls #5192 won the Inspire  Award and Design Award along with winning all of its matches during the day except one and then dominated the semifinal match, but the robot died in the championship match due to a computer glitch.  We had a very good day and are looking forward to one more qualifier at Tulsa Bishop Kelly High School for more practice and the state championship back in Weatherford on Feb 7-8, 2014.  Seven teams will be selected from the state Championship to attend the Super Regional in San Antonio, Texas, to compete against 13 states.  We feel we have a very good chance of qualifying and attending the ‘Super Regional’, so we will keep you posted on our progress.

PTC Design Award
The intent of the PTC Design Award is to expand the challenge, inspiring teams to incorporate industrial design into their robots.  These elements can be shown in the simplicity of the design as it applies to the task, the look and feel of the robot, and how the design allows us to think of robots in new ways.  The Deign aspect must serve a function – but they should also differentiate the robot in a unique fashion – not an easy task with limited set of parts and game challenge.

Judges comments:  This teams CAD (Auto Cad) is rad.  They took a right track as the robot mowed down the competition.  You will hoot with delight when you hear the winner is Team #5192

Inspire Award
The inspire Award is given to the team that the judges felt truly embodied the ‘challenge’ of the FTC program.  This team serves as an inspiration to what this program, and the young minds involved, can accomplish.  The team that receives this award has performed well in all judging categories and was chosen by the judges as a model FIRST Tech Challenge Team.  The judges used match performance, observations made during interviews and in the pit area, the team’s Engineering Notebook, and performance on the playing field in determining the winner.
Judges comments:  This team truly embodies the challenge of the FTC Program.  They were a highly visible team both in attire, spirit, action, and performance.  Second, their robot was imaginative, well-designed, and produced outstanding results.  Third, their attitude of teamwork and “Gracious Professionalism” was an inspiration to other teams, the judges, and all who attended this FTC event.